Neo Geo Chronicles Pro
by Radiant Falcon
Summary: From fire users to fanatics, world-weary warriors to karate masters, no square inch of South Town is safe from the King of Fighters Tournaments and its competitors. This is a story not about the tournament, but about the fighters. If you thought I was done with the Neo Geo World, prepare to have your socks rocked. Welcome to South Town, home to the King of Fighters. On Tap: ST-02
1. K'-Kula-Maxima

_**LAST UPDATE: 6.17.17  
**_ _ **GRAMMATICAL FIX**_

 _ **Radiant Falcon Fan Works #12  
**_ **Neo Geo Chronicles Pro**

 **Anyone remember Neo Geo Chronicles? That episodic fiction with that one scene with Iori on a boat or something like that? Well, astute readers can tell that was never finished. So here's a remake. A tenth anniversary fiction (I'm late by three months or so) based on the King of Fighters franchise mostly. No, this has nothing to do with the upcoming King of Fighters XIV, coming out this August exclusively for PS4... no kidding.**

* * *

South Town, in the west coast of North America, is a haven for back alley brawls, bar-room rumbles, and most importantly, the King of Fighters 3-on-3 tournament. Starting in 1994 by Rugal Bernstein as a means to destroy his enemies and gain their power, the KOF tournaments have fluctuated in ownership from Rugal to Chizuru Kagura to the defunct criminal syndicate NESTS and then to the Rugal's children Adelheid and Rose. They were always, however, incredibly important to the fate of the world. When not hosting major fighting tournaments that (more or less) determined who would fight the villain of the year, South Town is often known as the mob boss Geese Howard's home base. People usually refer it to as the original South Town; those people are wrong, of course, because the original South Town was destroyed by a space laser in 2000. The current South Town was originally known as Second South before that cataclysmic event, and as such you'll still find people in town who refer to their hometown by its former name.

Even so, most of South Town's residents agree that the city would be nothing without the King of Fighters tournament. Those people would be right, of course, but it's also a melting pot for a variety of individuals with a great deal of spirit, ki, power, inner fire, strength, etc. The funny thing is, most of them come from east Asian countries such as Japan and Korea. One of them is a clone of a very famous Japanese fighter by the name of K Dash, spelled as K', the famous clone of Kyo Kusanagi. As much as he hated to admit it, he was famous, having been in nearly every major KOF tournament since 1999, and was responsible for NESTS' destruction. His clone, a young girl by the name of Kula Diamond, had been in KOF tournaments since 2000, and though they lived together for the most part, they couldn't be more different. K' was very stoic, more antisocial than anything, and used a man-made variant of the Kusanagi Flames. Kula, meanwhile, had more or less the mindset of a ten year old and wielded the powers of ice. They did share common ground in that neither of them liked Kyo much, though to be fair, that's because they're both clones of the guy and they didn't appreciate it one bit. In fact, the only thing holding them back from going full Iori Yagami (who they're also not a fan of, and who particularly doesn't like Kyo) is K's partner Maxima, a cyborg who keeps them in line most of the time.

The problem with being K' isn't so much his personality as it is the stigma of being associated with NESTS. But as he would like you to know, his problem is everyone else is a dick.

-=1 Stage: KD Team=-  
-=K'/Maxima/Kula=-

K' and company lived in an apartment in what was evidently South Town's seedier corners. Generally, all of South Town is a seedy place, but the bad part of town is behind what was once Geese Tower, itself behind the railroad tracks. Now, one would assume that Geese Howard, who the tower was named for, would not approve of one of the so-called Hero teams living right behind his place. Given that if K' found out you called him a hero in front of him, he would be quick to deck you in the face and then deny such a connotation, though, we can assume that Geese probably would just back off. No one calls K' a hero. Hell, even his usual teammates don't do it. The only one to have done it was Igniz, a powerhungry maniac who led NESTS. And he got turned into a pile of crimson ash (not to be confused with Ash Crimson, the young kid who appeared in the following tournaments, took some powers, killed his ancestor and split into the void of time. Not that anyone would know about that.)

While they usually appear in KOF tournaments, K' and company make their living traveling the world, searching for interesting valuable artifacts related to the past. Usually, they're given the jobs by the Ikari Warriors, a military branch unofficially based in Honolulu who also have a number of KOF tournament appearances under their belt. K's older sister Seirah, also known as Whip, works for the Ikari Warriors, and they get their info from her. Today, however, nothing's on the itinerary, so K' usually just kicks back and relaxes. Or at least, that's what he usually does. Maxima's recharging and Kula's probably eating ice cream (an unintended side-effect of her cloned DNA and K' beating the assassin out of her in 2001), so he's free to do what he wants.

As soon as K' thought "man, you know what? I've got nothing better to do, I'll take a nap or something, take my mind off of things." the door to the apartment blew up in a orange flame. Evidently there was no rest for K', wielder of the red flames. "What do you want?" he sharply growled to the intruder. "I hope you'll pay for that door you just scorched."

There was no one at the door. If someone was here, they left a stray fiery projectile. The only one to use the orange flame was Kyo, whom as previously stated, he didn't like. But even he wouldn't intentionally cause arson. K' knew of a few clones in the past, but they all used different color flames, as if they knew orange was already taken, and almost all of them came from NESTS (with KUSANAGI, a Yata Mirror clone, having more white fire than anything). Only thing is, all Kyo clones, with the notable exceptions of himself and Kula, deactivated with Igniz's death. There was one running around using Kyo's moves from '96-onward but no one knew where he came from or where he went after KOF #13, meaning that not all clones were inactive... stuff like that made his head hurt. This is exactly why he needed to relax. Kula _told_ him he stressed out too much. "Keep a cool head, she said. It'll make you less grumpy, she said." K' muttered. "It's not like someone blew up our door or anything."

he laid back on the couch. If there's another door being incinerated, it'll probably be at someone else's home, he assumed. Then the same orange flame streaked past where his door used to be. "Oh for the love of..." K' heard a young girl complain. That young girl, Kula Diamond, evidently just woke up to the sound of fire. "Who's burning things this early in the morning?"

"Kula, do you know of any orange flame users?"

"Besides Kyo? No... why?"

"Because the door to our apartment was scorched by orange flame. I'm wondering if Kyo was involved."

"Isn't Kyo in Japan?"

Kula did bring up a good point. Kyo Kusanagi was in fact a Japanese native, and spent most of his time in that country. When he did travel to other countries, it was either for the KOF tournament or visiting friends in China. Long story short, whoever incinerated their door wasn't the famous Japan Team member. It had to have been someone else. But who else was there? The Kyo clones weren't things anymore, KUSANAGI used white fire, and K' used red. Either it was a figment of his imagination, or it was a flamethrower sent to torch K's apartment. If it was a flamethrower, it was probably a strike team. "Look, whatever's causing this is insulting my brain just thinking about it." K' said casually.

"Insulting your brain? You know better, Dash."

That was the unmistakable sound of a villain. Someone with enough power to level houses and bust tanks. In other words, Colonel Ralf Jones of the Ikari Warriors, bearing a envelope marked "For KD Team Only". "We've got an assignment for you."

"Really, Jones? Did you have to make us all paranoid?"

"Yeah, it's a new tactic called 'psychological warfare'. You should try it sometime."

Kula, eagle eyed as ever, asked "What's that in your hand?" Ralf responded with a hearty "Oh this? This is your assignment." K' complained, "I thought we didn't have an assignment today. What gives, Colonel?"

"Commander Heidern says you do. We think a NESTS remnant is trying to cause trouble in Geese Plaza."

"And you want us to check it out?"

"Yeah. It may be just be Zhe again, but we've got a hunch it's someone else."

Ralf was referring to 'Nameless' Zhe Prime, another Kyo clone (number #9,998 to be exact), only he was developed using the remaining data from K' and Kula. He used black flames, compared to K's red flames and Kula's ice powers. The guy was extremely bitter, more so than K'. That was a feat, he had to admit. His last KOF tournament was in Dream Match 4, where he fought by himself. He only resurfaced just recently, which begged the question: where did he go?

-=99=-

About six minutes later, K', Kula and Maxima were walking around Geese Plaza, at the center of which used to be Geese Tower, home of the strongest crime boss in all of South Town. Originally built in 1987 at the original South Town, destroyed in 2000 during the Zero Hour Incident (the official name for the "we almost died during the 2000 space laser crisis in space" day), and repurposed in 2013 as a local landmark, Geese Plaza is now the home of Geese's son Rock, who despite renouncing his relation to the crime lord, was named in his will as the sole inheritor of his fortune. Rock didn't want to take the money and power, but an encouragement from his surrogate father Terry Bogard convinced him otherwise. Terry's exact words were "dude, the world needs a Howard."

Maxima had recalled the ensuing press conference to his partners. "This is very fascinating stuff, K'.", he had said upon the playback's conclusion. What with Maxima being a cyborg, he had a lot of very handy tools at his disposal. "The kid took the place even if he didn't want it. So what?" K' scoffed. "So that sets a precedent. If Rock Howard could successfully turn the Howard Syndicate into a legitimate business, then we'd see a lot less crime around town."

"That would be nice. I don't want to end up in someone's trunk. Not after the last time." Kula alluded to. K' commented "You've liked it before."

"It took weeks to wash the gasoline out of my clothes. Weeks!"

"Now imagine something sparked."

Kula was shocked. "Dashy! How could you say such a thing?"

K' looked confused. "I didn't say anything, Kula. I know you hate fire, despite you having lived with me -a fire user - for the better part of three years.", he said matter-of-factly. Kula tilted her head to one side and said "It's been three years already?"

"Irrelevant."

"I forgot to get Aunt Foxy a housewarming gift!"

"Also irrelevant."

"I mean, she said she was buying a house in England with her husband; so it's no wonder she hasn't been around lately."

"Stay on track, Kula."

"But I really do need to- wait... did you see that?"

K' looked around. First to the left, then to the right. "I don't see anything."

"Take off your sunglasses, silly, it's like 5:30 in the morning and the sun hasn't come up yet!"

I should mention that the tanned, white haired clone always wore sunglasses whenever he went out, or hell, even in KOF tournaments. The frames were nearly unbreakable. But they were still sunglasses; best in bright days. As Kula noticed, it was 5:30 AM. K' saw that his 'cousin' had a point, and so did like he was told for once. "I still don't see anything." he concluded. "Maxima, do you see anything?"

There was no answer. The cyborg's usually blue eyes were completely white. "alright, you hunkajunk, what's the matter?"

"I don't know, man." Maxima responded. Only thing was that his response could be described as garbled. "My sensors are on the fritz. Could be some electrical interference."

"Impossible. Nikaido isn't due back in the country for another month."

"What about that Shermie lady?" Kula asked. "Shermie's in France, so I doubt it was her." K' responded. "No, my guess is a solar flare. You know how those things are with machines."

"No, It can't be that. I pay attention to the news, you know. They never said anything about a solar flare. What about a time traveler?"

"I don't know what story you read, but those don't exist in real life."

Maxima activated what was left of his sensors. "guys?"

"What about an electromagnet?"

"Do you know how many times Maxima's been hit with electromagnets without a scratch? Hundreds."

"Children!"

Both clones sprung to attention. "There's something here, something I think the Ikari Warriors might want to know about."

At Maxima's feet was a strange object. "Know what it is, partner?"

"My sensors aren't functioning properly, but if I had to hazard a guess..."

What it was was shaped very much like an obelisk, but it looked like it could fit in the palm of Maxima's hand. Almost as if it was a crystal. "Ooooh! Oooh! It's an alien object, isn't it?" Kula interjected. Maxima said, "We'd better report this to the Colonel. Maybe he'd know."

"Wha, and forget about the reason we came here?"

K' looked at Geese Plaza. He then looked in the general direction of his house. "Yeah, I'm sure Rock won't miss a few windows."

-=first stage completion=-

 _ **THE NEXT CHALLENGE**_

 _Shen Woo, Shanghai's very own God of War. Duo Lon, shadow warrior of the Nepal mountains. Nakoruru, nature priestess of ancient Japan? Something isn't quite right here. Jikai, stage 2 of Neo Geo Chronicles Pro:"Shanghai Team: Shen/Duo Lon/Nakoruru"_


	2. Shen Woo-DuoLon-Nakoruru

_**LAST UPDATE: 7.17.18  
removed chapter preview, next chapter will continue story**_

Radiant Falcon Fan Works #12

 _ **Neo Geo Chronicles Pro**_

 **When we last left off, we started this off with K' and his pals, though whether or not you can call Maxima and Kula pals, I'm not sure. Don't worry, K' fans, you'll be seeing more of your favorite white-haired beast of prey soon. For now, let's talk Shanghai. Shanghai Team, to be exact. Yes, we are involving Shen Woo in this.**

* * *

While the majority of King of Fighters tournaments start and end in the west coast city of South Town, the actual tournament takes place in cities all over the world. Teams don't even have to pay for transportation to these various locales, as that's covered by the sponsor(s) of the year. The last time a KOF tournament occurred, it was sponsored by the Rugal Bernstein's surviving daughter Rose (though Those from the Distant Land had something to do with it too. Not that anyone would know about that, though.) Adelheid Bernstein, Rose's older brother, participated in a tournament or two, but was preoccupied in the last one. This time, though, Rose and Adelheid are taking a much deserved break from sponsorship and letting some other billionaire handle it. Teams do have to actually make it to each location to compete, though, and that has never been covered by the sponsor(s), ever since the tournament's inception in 1994.

The point is, while KOF is primarily a South Town event, the tournament is also a world tour. The last time Shanghai native and self-proclaimed "God of War" Shen Woo entered a tournament was fairly recently, in KOF #13. He and his Flying Brigand friend Duo Lon, who've been in three tournaments together (#10, #11, and #13. the #12 tournament was technically a test of the current format, and as a result had a smaller roster) were touring with a mutual French friend of theirs by the name of Ash Crimson. Shen and Duo Lon knew each other for the longest time, and around the time of #13, Ash had completely vanished. But Ash didn't just vanish, he had caused his ancestor Saiki to die, which led into him being completely erased from existence. But since Saiki didn't exist, Ash wouldn't have existed either, which ultimately contradicted history and thus Ash himself was erased. Not that anyone would know about that, though. No one, not even Ash's best friends, knew his true intentions were to kill Saiki or even who he truly was. Basically, he was a time traveler with power-stealing abilities.

As a result of this time traveling adventure that literally no-one knows about (save Commander Heidern of the Ikari Warriors, but he's not telling anyone), Shen and Duo Lon parted ways. The last anyone had heard from them, Shen was back in Shanghai and Duo Lon headed back up to Nepal to train. They still talked to each other, but they just lived in two different countries. I say lived, because Shen Woo's home was the streets of Shanghai and Duo Lon's, the mountains of Nepal. This changed when Shen received a call from his former teammate Elizabeth Blanctorche, another friend of Ash Crimson and a noblewoman (well, as noble as France's democratic government would allow, anyway.)

-=2 STAGE: Shanghai Team=-

-=Shen/Duo Lon/Nakoruru=-

Shen Woo and that American fighter by the name of Terry Bogard shared a lot of similarities, but while Terry never could hold on to a job, Shen actually managed to just now land one in a local nightclub as a bouncer. It was hard work, but Shen did get to punch a dude when they acted out of line, so he didn't mind. At the rate he was going, he'd be able to afford a car. He owned a phone, but he hardly used it outside of calling Duo Lon or trying to call this unlisted number in his phone. He should probably delete it from his history, but something told him he should hold onto it. After all, it might be someone cool, like a noblewoman from France or something.

As the phone rung, Shen quickly answered it. The voice on the other line said "Hello, Shen?"

son of a bitch, it was Elizabeth. Talk about speaking of the devil. "Liz! Long time no see!"

"I told you before not to call me that."

"Sorry, you know how casual I am."

"I'd rather go with crude and unprofessional." the noblewoman stated matter-of-factly. "Duo Lon in fact requested that he rendezvous with you in Japan. I've not a clue why."

"That's because me an' him go way back. Maybe he wants to meet up again?" Shen then asked "what's ol' DL doing all the way in Japan?"

"He did not explain himself. He sent a letter requesting, 'Get Shen Woo in Japan by the -ahem- Witching Hour' and to be honest, I'm not sure how to interpret such a thing."

Shen had no clue what a Witching Hour was, but he understood what Duo Lon meant. "I have already arranged for your transportation. All you need to do is reach the airport."

"Anything else you'd like me to know, Lizzy?"

Elizabeth had already hung up.

-2003-

Duo Lon, the world's first true shadow warrior. His clan, the Flying Brigands, dated back to perhaps the early 400s BCE, possibly earlier. They had considerable influence in the underworld, and yet he himself walked the straight and narrow. Duo Lon was mysterious and often times calculating, but he was never antisocial. That was best left to one of his fellow students of the shadow arts, Lin, whom he had personally dealt with already. Though sometimes classified as goth (the guy often used gothic terminology, hence the 'by the witching hour' comment earlier, so such a connotation was inevitable), Duo Lon was a very nice guy, and was rarely defeated by his enemies. Opponents in KOF got him a few times, but never his clan's enemies.

Despite this, the airport he was supposed to meet his old friend Shen Woo at was defeating him. Duo Lon had a fair sense of direction and could read the layout well. He didn't need so much a map. But the airport was testing that. As Douglas Adams once said, "Airports are ugly. Some are very ugly. Some attain a degree of ugliness that can only be the result of a special effort." As he thought himself a decent survival expert, he knew he should ask for a map or at the very least directions to Arrival Gate 4K, but the shadows told him all he needed to know. Yet the shadows were thinning, and if he didn't find the gate before nightfall, there would hardly be a shadow to read. Then he heard a young, cocky voice belonging to a man in a pink shirt with a dragon on it."Yo! Duo Lon!"

There he was. "Ah, Shen Woo, you made it!" Duo Lon greeted his longtime friend. "How are things in Shanghai?"

"Could ask for worse. What's up, man? You felt like bein' a tourist all of a sudden?"

Duo Lon laughed. "It's good to see you too. Let us leave, I am beginning to despise airports."

as the two men strode to the baggage claim, a young lady with very extravagant hair and a conspicuous lolita-style dress pulled out her phone. "boss, it's me. I found them." after hanging up, she decided to trail the men.

-2003-

"So what are we doing here in Japan?" Shen wondered, having reached the baggage claim. "I mean, I know that Lizzy B sent me here for something, but what?"

Duo Lon explained "I am glad you made it, Shen. I've found something very fascinating regarding historical texts."

"Whoa whoa whoa," the other gentleman complained. "no one said anythin' about reading."

"Do not be so hasty. I will give you the condensed version. You know that Japan has a very rich history and background."

"I live in Shanghai, DL"

Duo Lon was undeterred. "You should also know that among Japan's history was a samurai by the name of Haohmaru, yes?"

"Nope. Never heard of him."

"He was one of the greatest samurai that ever lived, and some say his spirit walks among us now."

Shen Woo tried to put two and two together. All he came up with was "This Haohmaru is here in Japan, huh?" Duo Lon responded with, "I have been searching through recorded history, and I have yet to discover a phantom samurai such as he. No."

"Why bring the guy up. then?"

"Because my fellow Flying Brigands in Japan found a young woman resembling a woman Haohmaru was historically infatuated with, by the name of Nakoruru. I'm not so sure if she's truly the same one, however."

Shen Woo, brought up to understand that you shouldn't mess with another's girl, asked the first question that was on his mind. "She's taken, isn't she?"

"Haohmaru is long dead, Shen, so presumably not."

"Cool, dibs."

Duo Lon lightly clutched his forehead with his left hand. "You can be insufferable at times, Shen." he said, to which the young blonde said "You're welcome."

-2003-

That night, on the streets of Japan, a young woman wearing a white cloak was strolling. Though no one could figure out if she was a cosplayer or an actress trying to get into character or something along those lines, if she told you what she really was, you probably wouldn't believe her. Her name was Nakoruru, and she had come from an era of great conflict and chaos... last year, about three days after the events of KOF #13. One minute she was in Kyoto, Japan, circa late fifteenth century. The next, 21st century Osaka. At first, she thought 'this is a premonition of the future'. Then she was hit by a car after she wandered into the road. One way trips through time and space suck, however, and she woke up about thirty minutes later in a modern day house belonging to Shingo Yabuki, former KOF competitor of Japan Team, and current university scholar. Come a month later, she realized 'Well, this is my life now. Better make the most of it.' and found herself training a hawk, much like she used to do in her original time. It should be noted that in her time, she is a nature priestess with ties to legendary swordsman Haohmaru. In fact, she still has her ties to nature, having a habit of growing her own food and -whenever she went out- making sure to buy fresh.

Nakoruru removed her cloak's hood after she reached the end of the street she was strolling down. Admittedly, Osaka was a great city in her original time, and now it got greater, but it mostly got much brighter. That was something she never truly got used to. Anonymity in this day and age was a great thing, and she was glad no one recognized her, despite her being the only one with a cloak on. Her black hair helped, there were a ton of cosplayers in the area with black hair, and most people assumed she was one of them.

That is, except for those who were looking for her. Duo Lon and Shen Woo were also strolling down that street, albeit in the opposite direction. Shen was looking at a picture on his phone regarding a girl in a white shirt with leather gloves, white japanese pants going past her knees, and white leather boots, all of which with a red trim. She was carrying a Japanese dagger and was followed by a red hawk. "This is Nakoruru?" he asked. "She's shorter than I imagined." Little did he know Nakoruru was listening. "May I help you?" she asked. "Well, at least you didn't run into her, Shen." Duo Lon remarked.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Sorry, my dear. My vagabond companion here has a habit of running into attractive young women. We're looking for someone named Nakoruru; no last name, just Nakoruru. I suppose you are she?"

If nothing else, Nakoruru was honest. She admitted that she was Nakoruru. Shen said "I hate to even say it, especially to a living legend like yourself, but you're going to need to come with us."

"You don't look very trustworthy."

Shen was afraid of that. Before he could make a move, the priestess said "Your friend here, on the other hand, seems honorable. I will join you." Both Duo Lon and Shen Woo breathed a sigh of relief. "Provided you fulfill one prerequisite." she continued. "Name it." Duo Lon responded.

Nakoruru had requested to be tied up and led to her home that she shared with a young fighter. Shen Woo remarked, "I didn't know she was into this kind of stuff, D.L. I guess you pick up on a few things living in the past as long as she had." Duo Lon responded, "If I'm not mistaken, Shen, this is a test of character. You would do well to treat her delicately; you would cause loss of circulation tugging like that."

"What I want to know is who does Nakoruru live with. It's one thing for her to want to go home, but it's a whole other ballgame asking us to 'escort' her like this."

"Well, no use complaining about it now. We'll have to stay the night at her place, then take her with us to South Town."

"And we're going to South Town, why?"

-= _second stage completion=-_

 _TEAM SPOTLIGHT: Shanghai Team_

 _Shen Woo is a young fighter from Shanghai, China, without special powers or advanced chi. His whole life and fighting prowess was developed on the streets; though he has picked up a fair amount of chi deflecting projectiles with his bare hands._

 _Duo Lon is a member of the Flying Brigands of Nepal, and a long time friend of Shen Woo. Though his leg appears broken during battles, that is merely a ploy developed to fake out those that would underestimate him. He controls the power of Shadows._

 _Nakoruru is a nature priestess, and a huntress from Japan, circa the late fifteenth century CE. Her trip through time to today is one way, and a lot of her friends are long dead. Despite this, she keeps a level head and a red hawk named Mamahata_


End file.
